Post 14:
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+Mar 25 2007, 01:10 AM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ Mar 25 2007, 01:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Kaushal+Mar 23 2007, 05:20 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kaushal @ Mar 23 2007, 05:20 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bodhi, the french starting with Voltaire,Pierre simone de Laplace andJean Sylvain Bailly have been generally favorable. <b>whether this was a way of getting back at the english</b> or a genuine effort to find the truth is still open
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Or getting back at the church ?[right][snapback]66104[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Rajesh_G, I think this is true too. Well, about Voltaire in any case (don't know too much of Monsieur 'I am in no need of <i>that</i> hypothesis' Laplace or JS Bailly). It certainly gave an urgent impetus to his interest.
From the impression I got through reading some of Voltaire's writing:
Voltaire didn't like the church, being convinced it was a fraud and a vampire preying on people.
On the other hand, I think his interest in India (and China too, if I recall it correctly) and their traditions was real. He recognised that the cultures and philosophies in these nations were older than the christianism blanketing Europe in darkness. He saw that much even in the christian theological thinking was derived (although in seriously skewed form) from the east.
It both proved to him that he was right and served as further ammo for his resistance to the church.
<!--QuoteBegin-rajesh_g+Mar 25 2007, 01:10 AM-->QUOTE(rajesh_g @ Mar 25 2007, 01:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Kaushal+Mar 23 2007, 05:20 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kaushal @ Mar 23 2007, 05:20 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bodhi, the french starting with Voltaire,Pierre simone de Laplace andJean Sylvain Bailly have been generally favorable. <b>whether this was a way of getting back at the english</b> or a genuine effort to find the truth is still open
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Or getting back at the church ?[right][snapback]66104[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Rajesh_G, I think this is true too. Well, about Voltaire in any case (don't know too much of Monsieur 'I am in no need of <i>that</i> hypothesis' Laplace or JS Bailly). It certainly gave an urgent impetus to his interest.
From the impression I got through reading some of Voltaire's writing:
Voltaire didn't like the church, being convinced it was a fraud and a vampire preying on people.
On the other hand, I think his interest in India (and China too, if I recall it correctly) and their traditions was real. He recognised that the cultures and philosophies in these nations were older than the christianism blanketing Europe in darkness. He saw that much even in the christian theological thinking was derived (although in seriously skewed form) from the east.
It both proved to him that he was right and served as further ammo for his resistance to the church.